BTA Episode 09: A New Hope
by J-Dub -Silver Enigma
Summary: Who will be there when things look grim for the Legendary 12? Anime/video game/misc. references are used through the actions and ideals of Beanie Babies. Do not be deceived... it's better than just cute and cuddly. In fact: IT'S NOT CUTE AND CUDDLY AT ALL! The dark 3-4 month period known as "Crisis Central" begins here.
1. Backstory

**AN: It is now time to begin a new era of Bean Titans Adventures, as this episode begins Crisis Central—the 2-3 month period of controversy that the Bean Titans must deal with.**

**I really have nothing much to say this time around, so let's just get right into it.**

**Enjoy Part 9!**

* * *

**~BTA Part 9: A New Hope~**

Chapter 1 — Backstory

As the New 12 were in the works of becoming a new unit, the Legendary 12 were given time to manage and improve all things Titan-related. From time to time, the fathers and mothers of certain members of the New 12 were missed not only by the Legendary 12, but also by their siblings or relatives. They began to question about the kind of team that the New 12 would become. Because of this, the New 12 cannot let the Titans down.

Sweet knows that Wrinkle is plotting something somewhere. He never knew what it was exactly, but no matter what, he and the rest of the Titans had to be ready for anything.

**/-/**

And we will get into that in the next chapter.


	2. One Dozen Troubles

Chapter 2 — One Dozen Troubles

"What else can we do?" Mystic asked the Legendary 12. The month was almost up for the New 12, and there was no telling when they would return to assume their official duties.

"I don't know. We boosted our tech, we trained... what else is there?" Spunky questioned.

"We could visit Team Z..." Mac proposed.

"No, I know they're busy with something." Sweet responded.

"Busy with what?" Hippity asked. "They live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean... what could they do?"

"Never mind. Dotty, is there anything on the to-do list?"

She checked the world for any disturbances. "Well, I found one thing—Scaly is in Barcelona and I don't think the people there know that he isn't a Titan anymore."

"Guess I'll have to enlighten them then." Mac assumed.

Beeping noises came from the computer that Dotty sat by. "What? There's more?" Dotty murmured, going over the instant briefing. The rest of the Legendary 12 stood by to hear the report.

"This doesn't sound like good news..." Canyon said, losing hope.

"It isn't." Dotty replied. "Smoochy, Burn, Bruno, Ants, Chocolate, Snort, Daisy, Scurry, Sammy and Blackie are attempting to attack our bases!"

Fancy sighed. "Don't they ever give up?"

"Sabotage is a crime, you know?" Aurora justified.

"This one too?" Floppity asked.

"Strangely, no. We're all here, except for the New 12... why aren't they attacking us directly?"

"It's probably a part of Wrinkle's strategy, whatever he's planning." Sweet presumed.

"Speaking of which, I've just been informed that he's attacking the Amazon Base." Dotty told the group.

Hearing this, Sweet's composure immediately changed. "Legendary 12, divide and conquer. We can't lose our bases." Sweet commanded, while leading them to the teleporter.

"Where do we go?" Fleece asked.

"Pick a place... you'll know where I'll be." Sweet teleported first, to his old home.

Mystic telepathically told the Bean Titans in the Home Base to stay there because of the crisis at hand.

"I have a list of the targeted Towers. Be careful guys, the baddies seem stronger than the last time we fought them." Dotty informed them.

Like Sweet, much of the Legendary 12 went back to defend their Towers near their original homes: Mystic to Ireland, Mac to Barcelona, Aurora to the North Pole, Fancy to New York, and Spunky to San Francisco. The rest of the destinations are as follows: Dotty to the Tokyo Base, Floppity to the Aqua Base (Pacific Ocean floor), Hippity to the Pyramid Base (Egypt), Fleece to the Sky Base, Canyon to the Antarctic Base, and Kuku to the Hudson Bay Base.

**/-/**

The twelve-way battle begins in the next chapter.


	3. Worldwide Peril, Part I

**AN: I'll fix the Italic text later when my computer isn't fighting with me. :\ (EDIT: I think I worked it out now. Maybe it was chapter overflow... oh well, this is in two parts anyways.)**

**Remember, that notates the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters, flashbacks, or mental conversation with a psychic.**

Chapter 3 — Worldwide Peril, Part I

_BATTLE 1: _Dotty vs. Ants.

The anteater terrorizes Tokyo by conjuring and releasing an army of giant fire ants around the city. Once enough damage was done, they would proceed to sabotage the Titans Tower there.

"All right guys. On my mark... get set—" Ants commanded, telling them to hold their fire until he said so.

"Null Void!" Dotty shouted, arriving on the scene atop the base. She protected the Tower with a circular wall of gigantic black holes that sucked in any offensive attack.

Ants smirked. "That's a new one." he said.

"I know. Why'd you stop your ants? Scared?" Dotty replied.

"Hardly. Fire ants—self-destruct!" he finally commanded, as his twenty giants exploded to cause great fireballs to rain down on the entire city. "What now, Spotty?"

"Blackout, that's what." she responded. Dotty then span her black holes rapidly and expanded their sizes until one giant black hole formed over the entire city. She then dropped it on every corner in Tokyo, instantly clearing up every trace of fire caused by Ants.

"Damn you." Ants growled at the Dalmatian.

"Relax! You only wanted to attack the Tower in the first place, so don't give me that crap."

Ants was silent for a second. "Right, thanks for refreshing my memory. I forgot to show you my power..."

Dotty immediately went to Legendary strength to prepare herself. When Ants demonstrated his energy level, it nearly matched an **Ascended **Legendary power.

Dotty knew that she was in trouble, after being pummeled a bit by Ants. At times, she could barely react to his moves; however, she did manage to avoid two of his Black Reaper Ants because she had the perfect ability to do so—using her spots as Warp Pipes.

_"It looks like his death ants are his biggest liabilities. If I can keep avoiding them... I might be able to find an opening." _Dotty thought, until she saw a change in Ants's power. His body was glowing and eventually, it turned deep red. A flaming aura danced around him. This was his Pyro Mode.

"You're gonna die now... my flames fly fast, and you're not quick enough to catch on to them!" Ants told her, firing a fireball at her that traveled at the speed of sound.

Dotty was hit hard, sent flying into the city, through a few buildings. If she were to be hit by another one of those, she would be a goner.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLE 2_: Spunky vs. Daisy.

"Why'd you send me to destroy a Tower, Wrinkle...?" Daisy complained, with the base in her sights from the urban city. "Really. All I have are water skills... using milk. I mean, I can still wreck and crush stuff with or without them, but I'm beginning to wonder how lame my powers are."

"Yes you should." Spunky said, approaching the cow from behind. "I don't even think that you have any other powers. Still, you're not getting to the Tower..."

"Well, now that you're here... I have no intention of that anymore. I'd much rather suffocate you with the stench of rotten milk."

"Isn't all your milk rotten?" Spunky teased.

"Shut up!" Daisy shouted, punching the ground beneath her, causing towers of her "water" to erupt from below Spunky.

After being shot into the air, Spunky used Flash Step and reappeared next to Daisy with his Porcupine Kendo stick in his hands. "Eat this!" he exclaimed, attempting to stab her. His weapon simply bounced off of her. "What?"

"Sorry, but I'm that one cow you can't cut." Daisy told him.

"That's not right... my Kendo always pierced someone when I hit them like that. And you're plump..." Spunky murmured.

"It's called my **hierro**. It's basically a codename for 'tough skin'; even blades have a hard time cutting it!"

This shocked Spunky, as much of his power relied on using spikes to damage his foes. The only alternatives he had were normal fighting and Time Magic, but how long would that last on Daisy? He was in deep trouble.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLES 3 & 4_: Canyon and Fancy vs. Burn and Bruno.

In New York, the battle ended quickly when Fancy made it to the Tower there. Burn had already fired a Death Beam through her, right at the spot where her energy generated. Having done this, Burn immediately warped to the South Pole with her, to Bruno's position.

Canyon saw the unconscious Fancy, after she was thrown to him.

"What did you do to her?" he shouted.

"Chill. I showed restraint, so she ain't dead... yet." Burn said, implying that he could finish the job.

Canyon gave out a discharge of violent lightning in anger. "Aside from those in the Titans... this is why I hate mutts!"

"So what? You're always gonna be our prey!" Bruno replied, as he and Burn charged in to Canyon. The dynamic duo could easily combat against the entire Legendary 12, even now, since they are stronger than before. Canyon would have a very tough time without a plan.

"Shockwave!" shouted a nearby voice, who sent a current of surging lightning to push the dogs away from Canyon. It was Thunderbolt, coming out of the blue to assist Canyon.

"Thunderbolt..." Canyon murmured.

"Need help?" he asked.

Canyon looked back to the duo. "Plenty of it."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLE 5_: Kuku vs. Blackie.

As Kuku flew to the base inside of Hudson Bay, she saw the water below her get darker as she drew near the Tower; she knew then that Blackie was the cause of this, contaminating the water with smoke and darkness.

"Surprise, surprise!" Blackie exclaimed, suddenly jumping out of the water and ambushing Kuku with Darkga—a third-level darkness element spell. It was a direct hit, as his spell swallowed Kuku in a pillar of darkness for a few moments.

When the darkness subsided, however, Kuku appeared without any sign of damage taken. "The surprise is on you..." she told him.

Blackie backed up. "How did you—?"

"You haven't noticed?" Kuku questioned, raising her tail with the bracer on it. "When I got my powers, this bracer stuck itself on my tail, and I couldn't get it off ever since. But it automatically gives me the ability to negate any attack with the darkness element in it... and when I choose to," she instantly powered up to Legendary, "I can use its power to improve my own. In other words, knowing your strengths, you're only making me stronger!"

She unleashed her Fulminating Darkness Blast on Blackie, with energy she stored from the Darkga spell. After her jade blast faded away, the same result occured with him as well.

"This oughta be fun." Blackie said, unharmed by her powerful blast.

"How did you survive that?" Kuku asked, shocked.

"My hands absorb darkness when I put them out in front of me, so really, we're one in the same. However... ***powers up to Kuku's limit*** it's the difference in our power that'll decide this battle!"

Kuku was rendered useless at that point, since about ALL of her powers are darkness-related. All she could do now was defend herself physically.

**/-/**


	4. Worldwide Peril, Part II

Chapter 4 — Worldwide Peril, Part II

_BATTLE 6_: Hippity vs. Scurry.

"I came to the wrong place..." said Hippity, who found himself in the middle of an Egyptian sandstorm. Sand spirals span everywhere, as far as his eye could see. As he moved closer to the Pyramid Base, he soon saw a crimson spiral.

"Blood Rift Slice!" shout Scurry, who jumped out of the red whorl with one of his legs shining brightly. With it, he appeared to have hit Hippity with his technique, as the storm around them subsided from the "sharp" pulses after the impact.

_"That... was close."_ thought Hippity, surviving the life-ending attack by equipping the Armor of the Mantle on impulse, which was now shedding off of his body. He stood on a nearby sand dune.

"Wise move." Scurry said, descending to Hippity's altitude.

Hippity was a bit used up after that, using a lot of power to make best defense he could from the Blood Rift Slice. "Why... are you so blood-thirsty?" Hippity asked, pausing between words because of fatigue.

Scurry growled shortly. "I already explained this once before: IT'S MY PURPOSE!" he yelled, flying in to finish Hippity.

"Sand Coffin." said a voice from afar, trapping Scurry inside of a small dome of sand.

"Dep!" Hippity identified the Team Z member.

"Yo. His purpose is surprising to me... because he usually fights powerhouses with earth skills. I just don't know why he wastes his time with us." said Dep.

"Why are you here?"

"Scorch called us; all of Team Z's helping out."

"Even Danielle?" Hippity exclaimed.

"No, but we promised that this would be the last time we leave her away. Well, technically, she's not alone... Mina stayed back at the Home Base to watch her."

"So she'll be in action once this crisis is over?"

"Yep. So let's just put an end to one problem now. Sand Bur—" spoke Dep, prepared to close his hand.

"Crimson Diffusion!" Scurry shouted, freeing himself from the sand prison by using his energy blades to cut through every bit of sand around him. In defense, Dep and Hippity both beckoned their Mantle Armors. "Not gonna happen." proclaimed Scurry.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLE 7_: Aurora vs. Chocolate.

Getting to the icy fortress, Aurora saw no one in sight. While standing on the ice, he heard it cracking from several yards away. Off guard, Aurora was lifted into the air by brown "vines" grappling his arms and legs.

Nearby, Chocolate jumped out of the ice, controlling the vines which came from a small portion of her body.

"Got ya right in my trap." Chocolate uttered, smirking.

Aurora chuckled. "Tch..." he sounded.

"What's the deal?"

"I'm surprised you didn't freeze under that water. I can get out of this easy." Aurora stated, before blowing icy air on the vines that held him. The air began to freeze every inch of the vines, so Chocolate had to cut off her lines to avoid being frozen along with them. Aurora landed on the floor, smashing the chains of ice down to set himself free.

"Good for you." Chocolate spoke sarcastically.

"Why do you say it like that, huh?"

"I didn't just grab you... I poisoned you."

"Say what?" were Aurora's next words, before he felt something like a virus close to his heart. He put his hand there as he felt the gradually growing pain.

"As I planned. I never actually wanted to destroy the base myself, so instead, I'd sabotage you with the poison in my vines." Chocolate explained. "When I have someone in my clutches, it takes about ten seconds of downtime to make my poison sink in and ten minutes until it kills you. I got you for a good twenty seconds just now, so it should take about half that time. Oh yeah, and you can't cure it with just a simple Antidote... you're gonna need a White Mage or someone with unique healing powers to get rid of it before then."

_"Shit."_ Aurora thought. _"I gotta take her out quick..."_

"Ice Shard!" shouted a female voice, that closed in on Chocolate with something that appears to be an ice-Rasengan.

Chocolate avoided it quickly with Sonido. Both she and Aurora looked to see who it was; Tina appeared from the icy vapor that was left behind.

"Five minutes, huh? We'll beat you in half that time, if that's okay with you, Aurora." Tina said.

"As long as I don't die." he replied.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLE 8_: Fleece, Mystic and Floppity vs. Smoochy, Sammy and Snort.

This battle merged together when Smoochy, who was originally fighting Fleece, found that the Sky Base was home to most of the Bean Titans new aircraft. If they were to use them against any villain, it would call for bigger troubles to come for them. Smoochy then notified Snort and Sammy (during a silence in her own fight) to trick Floppity and Mystic into taking their fights to the Sky Base. Their plan worked, as they then sought on putting the women in a bind while they destroy the base.

However, Mystic was psychic, and she knew about their plot from the start. She told Fleece and Floppity, so they could come up with a counter for the criminal act.

Floppity threw her summon crystal up to call her esper, Chaos.

"Go!" Mystic cried. At her shout, Fleece, Floppity and Chaos unleashed their most powerful wind-based moves (Fleece-Nimbus Tornado, Floppity-Hurrigale, and Chaos-Tornado) to push the villains about a mile away from the Sky Base. Once the distance was made, Fleece and Floppity used Flash Step to their location so that Mystic, who stayed behind, could put an extremely large barrier up to protect the base. Unfortunately, that meant that she had to keep out of the battle.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Snort laughed. "All that effort, and you still made it worse on yourselves!"

Chaos was dismissed by Floppity.

"Did we?" asked Fleece, smiling.

Snort frowned. "Don't give me that! I could get rid of her barrier by using my Hellfire Pentagram right under her feet if I wanted to. I think I'll just do that!" Snort said, dashing back to the Sky Base.

"What? You're not gonna stop him?" Sammy interrogated.

"Don't have to." Floppity responded.

As he flew closer to the base, a massive cloud covered his path and then condensed into water, which somehow bended to push him back into the direction he came from. Fortress, who came just in time, did this.

"Sorry I'm late, sis. I can fill in for you." she said, before going to the battle in the air.

Smoochy was shocked. "Explain to me just how you all planned that..."

"Synthetic Prediction. Mystic and I had a three-step plan to counter all of yours before you even thought about them." Fortress answered.

"WHO CARES? Let's just fight!" Snort shouted out, immediately going for Fortress, his rival.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLE 9_: Mac vs. Scaly.

In his hometown yet again (but not at all distraught), Mac tried to sense exactly who was attacking. "I smell... reptile." he uttered.

"Indeed." spoke Scaly, who appeared to be behind Mac.

Mac winced and warped fifty feet away from Scaly. "How did you do that... without me noticing?"

"It's just Sonido."

"You sound... different. Almost like Reptilius—that was who I sensed, not you." Mac noticed.

"Well... you're right."

"What?" Mac exclaimed.

"Wrinkle promised that after one of our big tasks, he'd fuse us together with his Splicer. From now on, Reptilius and I are one, in both persona and power. I am Sceptilius. Yours and everyone else's chances of beating me have dropped even more, so prepare yourself and don't let your guard down for even a moment!" he said, quickly aiming to hit Mac, who countered by exuding his Spirit Mode power to deflect Sceptilius away.

_"I'm in deep trouble... my Spirit Mode can barely knock him away from me. And it won't matter when I use Final Shine... I'll only be able to take away half his health when I use it at full strength."_

"He's a mess, isn't he?" asked Derby, who startled Mac by levitating beside him.

"Aaaahhh! Why can't I find you guys today?" Mac muttered.

"Who is that?" Sceptilius asked.

"Derby's the name, buster. Don't you forget it!" he told him with spunk.

"I won't... just make sure you don't tick me off."

"Save it. I know you're strong, so you must be an Acolyte."

"I wish I was." Sceptilius replied.

"You're not?"

"Um, Derby... Acolytes wear white. He has all black." Mac pointed out.

"Oh. Well, beating you should be that big of a deal, then!" Derby said, pointing at Sceptilius.

_"Oh snap... he's asking for it. I guess I'll have to fight with him, then."_ Mac thought, surprised at how confident, yet crazy Derby sounded.

Sceptilius released an intense dark green aura. "Are you saying that I'm weak? I don't think you've ever faced an Acolyte, and you oughta be lucky that you never do! Regardless, you're fighting ME, and I don't care if you're a preteen... I have enough power to destroy every little hair on your body!

Derby used Flash Step to get behind Sceptilius while he was talking. "Just so you know, I think I can do the same to every scale on you. But I'm not there with my power yet..." Derby had a spinning, light green orb in his hand, "so I'll just do this my way! Energy Ball!"

Sceptilius was hit by the [elemental] wood-based orb, but it did not look like anything phased him much.

"Impressive, but you'll need to hit me with about 40 more of those to bring me down. There's not enough light in ya."

"Not a problem; I have the wood element with me. That's all the **light** I need." Derby said, before continuing the fight.

Mac shortly joined. _"Why is that logical? He said it as if he had unlimited energy reserves..."_ Mac thought, until he figured it out. Derby's strength was justified by the weather. For example, it is sunny in Barcelona now. The sun's rays have the same effect on him as it does on plants. They give him constant, renewable energy. It powered and healed him; Derby would never run out as long as the sun is showing. Derby is at his best right now, so as long as Mac survives, they would be able to defeat the formidable foe.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_BATTLE 10_: Sweet vs. Wrinkle. A classic between arch-enemies.

"I should've known you'd invade my home... again." Sweet said.

Wrinkle turned around. "Lucky for you, I have second thoughts about my plan."

"And what is that?"

"Why damage a building when I can damage you? I already lured you into my trap." Wrinkle said.

"What do you mean?"

"This entire Amazon forest is a trap for you..." Wrinkle started to say, before he swung his arm backward to block an impending attack from Durango, who used Flash Step to join the scene, "**and** you, as well."

"Crap." Durango uttered, falling back to Sweet's location.

"If either one of you decide to use any dangerous fire move, just know that you'll be killing the forest too. That just so happens to be both your strong points, so what now?" Wrinkle thought he had them in a bind.

Durango's look changed. "You don't even know, Wrinkle."

"Know what?"

"Durango and I are two of the three leaders in the Bean Titans, and we both have enough skill to improvise without one of our trump cards." Sweet explained.

"I got another one for ya, too. I got enough power to kill your skill, so were even... at least for now." Wrinkle got into his fighting stance.

Sweet and Durango responded to his stance by powering up. They both knew that Wrinkle, who was almost as strong as Sceptilius, would be a tough opponent because he is not only powerful, but cunning as well. They had to watch their backs.

**/-/**

Most of the ten (nine, really) battles will be cut down to the chase. This is where it gets good.


	5. Redemption, Part I

Chapter 5 — Redemption, Part I

Dotty became unable to use the right side of her body, due to being burned by one of Ants's fierce fire blasts. The only way she could heal them is to be in the Healing Room, which was not going to happen, now that Ants has her in distress.

"Looks like this is the end for you. Time to go now... Overheat!" Ants said, firing a blast of extremely hot fire at Dotty.

"Water Style..." sounded a female voice, nearby Dotty.

Ants heard it too. "Who the—?" he uttered, before noticing a familiar squirrel.

"Explosive Water Pulse!" Megan finished, summoning a wall of water to douse the fire and sending it to rush against Ants, who recovered after being hit.

"No way..." said Dotty, sensing Megan's new power—it was greater than Ants was exhibiting, even in Pyro Mode. Seeing her, Dotty knew that it was certain that the New 12 have returned.

"Wow Ants... you look like you've seen a ghost. It's just little ol' me." Megan said.

"I didn't even detect you... why are you here?" he asked, just now noticing her heightened power level.

"Why don't you come and find out?" she replied, more than ready to fight him.

"You know me better than that, squirrel. My servants do most of the work. Summoning Jutsu: Black Reaper Ant!" shouted Ants, beckoning his six-bladed grim reaper.

_"I gotta take this battle away from the people. Plus, Ants needs to chill... and maybe for good."_ Megan thought, as she avoided the Black Reaper Ant, heading south.

Ants and Dotty followed, to see what would happen. Soon, Megan reached the Tokyo Port and stopped there.

"Finally facing defeat, are ya?" Ants questioned.

"You could say that." Megan responded, letting the Black Reaper Ant take a swing at her. Once it made contact, both she and it self-destructed.

_"What? Why did she do that?"_ Dotty began to think. Ants was shocked as well, witnessing the suicide-homicide moment. Neither of the ant nor Megan stood after the smoke cleared.

"Dotty... I know I shouldn't ask, but did she die just now?" Ants asked.

"DREAM ON!" yelled Megan, jumping out of the port's waters, completely unharmed.

"WHAT? How in the world—?"

"Let's review, shall we? I am what I'd like to call a Copy Ninja—I use my Sharingan to watch the things that I want to learn, recreate them, and keep them just in case. Yes, I am originally skilled with Fire Style moves, but that's only a fraction of my skills entirely. That was my Explosive Clone Jutsu; I created it from watching Bongo and Sly train. Pretty self-explandatory." Megan told him.

"Grrrr... I'll show you explosive! Fire Ant Army!" shouted Ants bluntly, summoning about thirty of his giant fire ants from when he was fighting Dotty.

"Oh no! Megan, be careful! Those ants will self-destruct on Ants's command!" Dotty warned her.

Megan activated her Sharingan. "Which is why I brought them all here. I suggest you and Ants get out of the area."

"Why so? You're both gonna die!" Ants said.

"Suit yourself." Megan replied, jumping back and using her chakra to stand on the water. Then, she exhibited a great amount of energy for her next technique, rapidly making hand signals while chanting. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" he mentioned, conjuring a gigantic serpent made completely of water. It quickly consumed every flaming ant to kill them.

"Ha! I didn't have to move!" Ants gloated.

Megan used Flash Step to warp in front of the anteater's face, causing him to slowly back up. She had her eyes closed. "Remember when I said that I said being a Copy Ninja was only a fraction of my skills? Here's another one: I'm also a Illusion Ninja. And unfortunately for you, Dotty heeded my warning." Dotty was atop a nearby building.

Megan opened her Sharingan eyes, revealing a change in them. The outsides of the pupils remained black, but inside showed a crimson "flower" with six outlined triangles fixed at the six corners of the "petals" and chained together to have a hexagon in the center. The three tomoes and the center pupil dot still remained on the eye in the exact same places. This was Megan's Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Tsukuyomi..." Megan continued, bringing and trapping Ants in an ominous dimension of sorts. "Final Nightmare." At those words, a burning moon that could be easily mistaken for a sun slowly descended on Ants, who was trapped in inescapable water.

In reality, Ants screamed horrifically for dear life, for Megan's technique was a Genjutsu, an illusion—and a ruthlessly grueling one at that. Ants felt as if he was burning for eternity, even though just a minute has passed. He was right about one thing: being in flames for eternity. He was condemned to death by "psyche hypertension".

Megan returned her eyes to normal and moved to Dotty's location. Dotty could hear Ants screaming.

"I know what Tsukuyomi is, and what a Mangekyo Sharingan can look like... but what did you do to him?" she asked in a whisper-like tone, astonished with a bit of fear.

"Final Nightmare." Megan started. "Right now, in a mental dimension, his body is half-submerged in water and he can't move. While floating there like a helpless duck, a giant moon of red and black flames falls closer towards him. Even when it's far away from him, the moon burns every part of his body, and as it gets closer, the pain never ceases—it only gets worse. There's **no escape**, and **no one** can help him... so if he wants to be immortal, he can live eternally in flames. Even immortality can die someday, and until that day comes, his fate is set. We're done here, Dotty."

"Wait! About your eyes... I thought you had to see someone that was close to you die before you could get that Sharingan."

"Doby... she **was** a Bean Titan. She committed suicide before the New 12 were put together. She was my best friend, but I never knew why she did that." Megan said.

"All we can do now is just live life, and make it better." Dotty replied.

"Yeah, I guess..."

Dotty grew curious. "Was that the full extent of your power?" she asked the squirrel, as they flew off.

"...Not at all. I'd say about three-quarters of it." Megan answered.

* * *

At his limit, Spunky only crawled on the floor, unable to withstand the might of Daisy, who he thought would be a pushover by her size. Innocent people watched from a distance, seeing one of their heroes lose to a villain.

"One more tackle oughta finish you." Daisy uttered, before beginning to gain momentum for a finishing ram on the cocker spaniel.

Spunky glanced at the mad cow running in for the kill and thought that he was done for. That was, until he sensed a nearby presence...

Before she could get to him, Daisy was stopped by a small green explosion in her path. The smoke was poisonous, and she had inhaled a little of it.

"**__*****cough, cough*** What... was that?" Daisy openly questioned.

"Huh?" Spunky said, after his line of sight was restored, seeing black (mostly) and white in front of him, with purple hair. His eyes didn't lie. Christina, the skunk, came in the nick of time. The nearby crowd cheered.

"What do we have here? A big... fat... dairy queen." Christina blantantly uttered, to strike a nerve in Daisy.

Daisy mooed furiously. "How dare you?"

"Call me a risk-taker all you want—it's true."

Daisy exhaled hard. "All right. Let's see if your bite is better than your bark!"

Daisy charged in for Christina now. The skunk was well prepared for her, as she quickly forged one of her stink bombs. They are not meant to be stereotypical; they are used to weaken or disable her opponents.

"Oh trust me, it is." Christina said to Daisy's ear, having used a Flash Step to get close very quickly. She then threw the bomb at Daisy, and it immediately bursted on her.

"What is with these bombs of yours? They aren't doing a thing to me!" Daisy said, attempting to backhand the skunk.

Christina blocked her fist and then kicked Daisy in her gut, sending her flying back into a nearby building. Because of Daisy's **hierro**, Spunky was unable to move her more than five feet; Christina sent her back at least fifty yards.

Daisy slowly got back up. "How did she...? I thought that..." she quietly uttered, wondering why she was aggroed so far.

"Those bombs are a part of my main battle role, as a saboteur, or a "Gray Mage" as I like to call it. Earlier, I threw a poison bomb, so at this moment, your health is slipping away. And the one I used just now took away any kind of defense you had, so now you're almost a lightweight." Christina explained.

"Grrrrrrrr... DAMN YOU!" Daisy said, "Flashing" back and preparing her strongest move, Calcium Flood—a massive, crushing wave of milk. The people ran behind or out of the way of the wave.

_"And here I thought milk was supposed to **help **the body..."_ Spunky thought.

Christina sighed. _"You still don't get it..._ I'm ending this." she said, taking out what she calls a Daze Bomb.

"Please! That little bomb can't stop a wave this big!" Daisy said, letting it fall down.

Christina threw the bomb at the wave, which proved Daisy wrong by stopping the wave and herself entirely. "That's what you think." she said, as she then gathered energy from sunlight in her hands, which were side-by-side together, aimed at the motionless Daisy. "Solarbeam!" was her next shout, firing a bright blast of light on the cow, banishing her from San Francisco.

After she was gone, her wave just fell straight down, hardly harming anyone within range.

"Sweet Aroma..." were Christina's next words, as she began to wave her tail around, which emitted a lime green gas around the vicinity. This alarmed some people in the nearby crowds, knowing that skunks can stink. However, these fumes were different. Not only did they smell good, but it also healed Spunky and those hurt by the tides of the battle.

Spunky got up. "I don't get it..." he murmured.

"Why I'm so strong?" Christina guessed.

"Not that. Why did that gas smell so... flowery?"

Christina lowered her eyebrows and sighed. "Don't ask."

* * *

Thunderbolt found himself in a pickle on Antarctic ice. After the dynamic duo rendered Canyon and Fancy helpless, they made him tired by constantly aiming their blasts at the two unconscious members of the Legendary 12. Thunderbolt had no choice but to protect them both at any cost, even if it meant taking the damage for them.

"Let's finish this now, Burn." Bruno suggested. They both were charging Death Beams, aimed at the brown horse.

_"Damn... I don't have enough energy to do a Lightning Dash."_ Thunderbolt sensed, unable to save himself and his fellow Bean Titans.

As the twin blasts were coming for him, a small yet durable wall of lightning veiled Thunderbolt and the two felines, protecting them from harm.

"What... the hell... was that?" Burn asked, with a light temper.

"Fancy uses that move... but she ain't moving." Bruno murmured.

A snap was heard, and suddenly, Felix and Bonnie appeared in place of the wall of lightning in front of Thunderbolt.

"That was **my **Lightning Wall." Bonnie responded.

"Who asked you to jump in?" Bruno interrogated.

"No one needed to, you dipwad." Felix backtalked. "We Bean Titans look out for each other... so if you would mind, Thunderbolt—leave these two to us. We'll have this done in sixty seconds flat."

Thunderbolt nodded, heeding Felix's request and taking Canyon and Fancy away from the scene.

"Fine with me. Let's see what you kids can do." Burn said.

A small nerve popped in Felix. **"Don't call us kids..."** he warned them.

"Yeah. Take it from me, we're strong enough to beat the both of you." Bonnie assured them.

"Prove it!" both the evil dogs said, challenging the two young Titans to withstand one of their brutal techniques, the Death Ball. They both raised a finger up and generated a small, but destructive orb of dark energy.

"You're done for!" Burn said, looking down... but did not see either Felix or Bonnie. He and Bruno did not know where they disappeared to.

"Are we, Burn?" Felix responded, appearing in midair next to Burn, as Bonnie was to Bruno.

"Or are YOU?" Bonnie finished. Both she and Felix instantly revealed that they each had a fully charged Chidori in one of their hands.

_"We're fucked..."_ Bruno thought.

The voltage from the electric orbs were sent coursing through Burn's and Bruno's bodies, which were shut down soon after. They were defeated.

Felix was right—the battle did not take more than a minute.

**/-/**


	6. Redemption, Part II

**AN: If I didn't remind you before, double hyphens don't work anymore for some reason. I changed a few of them in this story only, but in the other ones... please try and discern which hyphens either separate a sentence, or conjoin two or more words.**

**EDIT: I got this fixed. I'm copy-and-pasting the perfect dash I need from Word (the one after "Chaper 6" below). Any other dash I try will be automatically shortened, and used for conjoining words.**

Chapter 6 — Redemption, Part II

Meanwhile, in the Hudson Bay, Blackie had Kuku exhausted. She was flat on her back on top of the Tower there, and all he had to do was finish her and the base.

"Kuku, you forget... I'm also an earthbender. And I just found the perfect rock to end you." Blackie said, putting his arms in a lifting position and beginning to hum quietly. As he got louder, a gigantic boulder from the bottom of the waters below was levitated, floating several meters above the Tower and Kuku. It was big enough to flatten the island into one pancake. Kuku tried to stand up and avoid it, but was really beat down by Blackie, whose power level was above hers.

Blackie let the giant boulder fall, assuming that victory was in his hands. Then, he saw smoke above Kuku; he assumed that she was smoke-porting (teleporting by smoke). However, one thing stood out... as there was a fuchsia-colored katana within the smoke.

_"This energy... it's not Kuku's..."_ Blackie analyzed. He was correct, seeing the smoke reform itself into a body... Lucy's body, that is. The goose, floating above her mother, held the katana in her hands, flew swiftly up towards the boulder, and sliced it completely in half.

Kuku witnessed this. "Lucy?" she uttered, beginning to question if that was really her daughter; her power was greater than Blackie's, as demonstrated when Lucy then used her Psypulse ability to push the halves of the boulder away with great psychic force.

"I won't let you kill my mother, Blackie." Lucy told him.

"Oh, cry me a river why don't ya?" Blackie responded, standing on the black waters.

Lucy scoffed. "After I'm done with you, you'll be the one crying."

"Well, come down then!" Blackie shouted, using his Black Backlash technique, which called a wall of darkness to ambush his opponent from behind.

Luckily, Lucy was psychic and saw this coming seconds ago. She was already fifteen yards behind him, standing on the water as well. She displayed a hand signal, just in front of her beak. Her right hand held her left hand's index and middle fingers while the rest of the left hand remained underneath.

"Start crying... Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Lucy shouted, before imitating the black bear's standing stance. Kuku and Blackie saw nothing else happen.

"What was that?" Blackie asked, smiling evilly.

"Your last mistake."

"How so?"

"Try and move your arm."

"Fine then." Blackie attempted to raise his arm up to blast Lucy, but it did not even budge. "What the hell?" Blackie uttered, trying harder to move his own arm. It finally moved, but only when Lucy mirrored that movement. _"No..."_

"I control your body now, and there's hardly anything you can do about it." Lucy explained, moving closer to him which caused him to walk to her as well. They were within a few feet of each other. "Now, when it comes to powers in this situation... I win that battle too." She conjured the psychic katana again, extending her right hand to the side to grasp it. Blackie only held air.

"You're gonna cut me... fine. But I'll still be immortal!"

Lucy was not phased, even after stabbing the katana through Blackie and taking it back. She still had the Shadow Possession Jutsu in focus. "If I recall correctly... you guys got immortality with the help of the Acolytes, right? They have control over your lives... but what would happen if some force, if possible, were to destroy every last one of the Acolytes? Wouldn't that end your so-called eternal life?"

"Only if you were to put me in some loophole of death, which I don't think will happen."

Lucy then released her grip on him, but he did not know it. "Wrong again, Blackie. Your life ends here... Shadow Prison Jutsu."

Before he could realize that his body did not move along with hers, a sphere of black materialized around him, trapping and constricting him inside of it with no air to breathe.

_"This is darkness, dammit... I can absorb this."_ he thought, attempting to open his hands while being squeezed to clear away the shadows around him. However, for some reason, he failed to do so. All he could feel now was searing pain. _"Why can't I redirect this darkness? Aaugh! I'm supposed to absorb it!"_

_"If you haven't noticed yet, this isn't darkness."_ Lucy told him telepathically.

_"WHAT...? But I created it myself!"_

_"It is made up of all the smoke and darkness you contaminated 50% of the Hudson Bay with. I simply moved every last atom of that smoke and darkness to trap you at this point, after reforming it into something that's not in your favor... **black light.**"_

Blackie's eyes bulged._ "Black light... is **crushing **me? You have darkness **and** light at your will? How? How did you plan all of this?"_ Blackie demanded to know.

_"I'm a tactician: planning beforehand is what I do. I had five other strategies that would work as well, flawlessly. I'm gonna stop talking now, since you're gonna die as soon as every Acolyte does."_

"Hey! HEY! Aaaaaaggggghhhhhhh!" Blackie screamed. Like Ants, his fate was set as well.

Lucy flew to Kuku and helped her up.

"I know I can't go and help, but where did dad go?" she asked her mother.

The cockatoo nodded her head quickly, trying to shake her senses awake. "Where else? He's in Spain. Who he's fighting... is anyone's guess."

* * *

"I'm comin' in for the kill!" yelled Scurry, running in for Dep, who was left to stand his ground against the beetle after Hippity had no energy left to fight.

"Sand Wall!" Dep shouted, raising a sheet of hardened sand to protect him.

Scurry grinded his teeth. "Please. My arms can cut through anything!" He prepared to lead with one of his right "blades", until a thin, bright red laser hit him from the side.

Dep saw this, lowering his wall after Scurry was hit several meters to the right of him. _"That laser... Sweet couldn't be here, unless he already beat his opponent."_ he thought, before he saw who it was.

"What's good, Dep?" greeted Slowpoke, the powerhouse sloth of the New 12.

Dep was alarmed. "Slowpoke? How is your power this high? And how do you have your dad's laser?"

"Don't you think you oughta get Hippity away from here? This is gonna get messy... plus, I need my rematch against this bug." Slowpoke replied with confidence.

"Go ahead!" Scurry shouted. "I'll fight whoever for all I care... but, you're still gonna lose, sloth!" He charged in for Slowpoke.

"Good luck." Dep said, taking Hippity to the Pyramid Base.

"Bring it." Slowpoke grinned, in a stance.

"Oh, I will! Blood Rift Slice!" Scurry cried, unleashing his devastating sweep once again. Upon impact, a gigantic wall of sand immediately rose, and it was visible even from the Pyramid Base.

Dep looked back. "Slowpoke!"

"Don't even call for him. I've said it before, my arms cut through anything, and he—!" Scurry stopped boasting after the dust cleared, revealing that Slowpoke did not have even a scratch on his arm.

"You were saying...?" Slowpoke uttered.

"YOU'RE... NOT EVEN CUT?"

"Allow me to clear things up for ya." Slowpoke then used a Meteor Crush fist directly to Scurry's gut, punching him downward to create a twenty-yard crater in the ground. "My defense is so high, that even blades can't cut me. My arms have the greatest defense and offense, so you **know** you can't cut them, let alone endure the pain I'm givin' ya."

"Curse you!" Scurry said, ignoring his words and attempting to attack again.

This time, Slowpoke grabbed his attacking arm and started crushing it very hard to prevent him from using his other five arms.

"I told you... you won't cut me. Hurts, doesn't it?" Slowpoke said, throwing Scurry back down to the ground. Slowpoke began to walk off. "Come back to fight me when you're stronger."

"Aaah!" Scurry persisted on attacking.

Slowpoke sighed, and then used Flash Step to appear behind the beetle while demonstrating his new power, weighing him down. "You're gonna stay down this time! TUNNELING FANG!" he shouted.

Slowpoke instantly span rapidly, causing him to form a drill-like energy shell surrounding his body. He rammed directly into Scurry, leading him in and out of the sands a few times until Slowpoke decided to let up. Scurry could not move afterwards, as there was direct pressure on his back. This battle was over.

* * *

"It's been four minutes now... how come I'm not even half-tired yet?" Chocolate inquired, calling Tina's bluff about winning in two and a half minutes. Aurora had one minute left before the poison ended him.

Aurora kneeled. "Tina... don't you have some healing spell?"

"Only when I had my second conscience; he was gone ever since Derby was born. Sorry."

"Damn it..."

"You're both gonna die anyways, so I might as well grab you too, Tina!" Chocolate said, shooting more vines at her.

_"No!"_ Tina thought, guarding herself.

"Orb of Tornami: Ice!" shouted someone, from a distance. A current of ice rushed against Chocolate, pushing her away from Tina and Aurora.

"Orb of Tornami... Ears!" Tina said, remembering the rabbit who possessed that Shen Gong Wu.

"Come on, Tina. You have ice moves too; you could've stopped that yourself." Ears said, landing near them.

"Sorry... I just got sidetracked."

"You already are... I'M GONNA PASS OUT IN LESS THAN 30 SECONDS!" Aurora yelled.

"It's a good thing I'm here then." Ears uttered.

"You can heal?" Tina questioned.

"No... more like, purify." Ears then went to Aurora and put a hand out to him. His next word was "Quicksilver", and then a small amount of heavy, silver water danced its way into Aurora's body. Its purpose was to serve as a remedy, to instantly cure any negatives that hinder someone. In this case, the Quicksilver killed the poison within Aurora; he would live to see the days ahead of him now.

"Hey... there's no pain anymore. Thanks!" Aurora said.

Chocolate broke out of the ice, upset with being frozen.

"I suppose this bitch did that to you..." Ears guessed, recognizing his former girlfriend.

"Yep."

"I'll handle her. You and Tina stand back."

Chocolate stopped in front of Ears's face, after the other two Titans distanced themselves. She tried to examine him.

Ears remained steady. "You act like you don't know me. Back off." he said, pushing her back.

"You have an act too." she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb. I see through it. What's that girl's name... Hoppity? You're only with her because I broke up with you. I got real close for a reason, and now I know... you want me alone right now because you can't wait to get back with me."

"Um... WHAT?" Ears asked, confused and a bit freaked out by her "educated" guesses.

"You still like me, Ears... and that's your mistake. I bet you can't even hurt me, so this will be easy for me." She then used about twenty poison vines from her body to squeeze him. "Hah! As I thought."

"You idiot." uttered Ears's voice, behind Chocolate.

"What...?" she said, oblivious of the fact that she is grasping a clone.

"Krysta Mist." said Ears, causing the clone to vaporize into a shroud of icy cold mist, which froze and completely immobilized Chocolate's vines. It slowly started to freeze the rest of her body.

"You jerk..." she growled.

"Save it." Ears immediately backtalked. "There is no act, moose. I'm with Hoppity for reasons you have no idea about. Unlike you, she makes me happy... you're just jealous. She has everything I could ever wish for... that, and a sweet body... but that's not the point. I fought you alone because I needed your trashy self out of my mind, so I can be free. What you have to deal with is not my problem anymore; I can care less what happens to you. And that's why you're trapped right now. As much as you don't like being frozen, soon, you'll live your immortal life as crystal."

The ice was up to her chest now. "Can't someone thaw me out or heat the crystal?"

"Let's just say I used a cold-blooded move. The crystal that comes after Krysta Mist shows up anywhere, but it is unbreakable when it drops around temperatures of 0°C or below. Since we're so far north right now, you're as good as dead. Nobody can save you."

"No! You can't do this to me!" she cried.

"You should've stayed with the Titans... it's too late now. TTYN: talk to you never." Ears said, leaving her as she turns into an ice moose statue.

**/-/**


	7. Redemption, Part III

Chapter 7 — Redemption, Part III

"No!" shouted Fortress, seeing Fleece and Floppity falling out of the sky after Snort blasted them both with Flame Purge, one of his most powerful fire moves. As Fortress was left to fight Snort, Smoochy and Sammy on the airbourne, partly cloudy battlefield, Mystic barely had any energy left to support the massive barrier she put around the Sky Base; Mystic was fading.

"See what happens when you risk too much?" Snort said.

"I'll do the honor of finishing her." Smoochy said.

"Go ahead." Sammy uttered.

The frog flew in for the unicorn, jumping up in an attempt to hammer her down through the cloud beneath her. As she got closer, Fortress (being psychic) sensed three other presences, all more powerful than anyone around her. She recognized them too... a pink bunny, a chimpanzee, and another lamb.

"Back off!" said Hoppity, interrupting Smoochy by kicking her upward. "Psybeam... Barrage!" Hoppity rapidly fired ten Psybeams at the ascending Smoochy, who then fell down to Earth after being hit.

"Smoochy! Why you little—!" Sammy muttered, jumping in for vengeance. However, Ewey appeared in Hoppity's place halfway before Smoochy had a chance to plan her attack.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" shouted Ewey, swinging her Heavenbow (a golden bow that can be detached into two short swords) to cause a razor whirlwind to take Sammy in and cut her body down ruthlessly. Sammy suffered the same fate as Smoochy, falling after her.

Witnessing his comrades being defeated, Snort looked left to right, trying to watch himself for any other Titans that aim to ambush him.

"Pardon me." said a voice behind him, tapping his shoulder.

Snort turned around to see Bongo's fist connecting with his face, making Snort fly downward several feet. "That's it..." Snort growled in anger, slowly getting up off of the cloud. He sought to use his "frustratingly" powerful move, Hellfire Pentagram.

"Easy, Toro. Flame Wheel!" Bongo shouted, beginning to spin around Snort at high speeds while enflamed.

This gave Snort a hard time of pointing his attack at the right place; he needed to hit Bongo. After several seconds, Snort got pissed and decided to point in some random direction. Unfortunately, Bongo was all the way on the cloud that Hoppity and Ewey stood on, and instead, the bull pointed below himself. Snort severely burned himself and the cloud he stood on. He was defeated as well.

"That dude gets pissed way too easily." Bongo stated.

"Aren't we forgetting something?" Ewey asked.

"Already on it." replied Hoppity, preparing to use her Wizardry (shown by a midnight blue aura) to save Fleece and Floppity, who were still falling down while unconscious. _**"Warpus Proximitus!" **_was her spell, which warped all [nearby] allies to one point of her choosing; Hoppity teleported the six Titans outside of the Sky Base inside, to where Mystic was kneeling.

"Thank goodness." Mystic managed to say, releasing the barrier.

Ewey released a green aura. "Salvation." she said, fully restoring the energies of the seven Titans.

"Good thing you guys showed up when you did." Fortress said.

"No problem. We're ready for responsibility now." claimed Bongo.

"I'll tell you now, your job as leaders isn't going to be easy." Floppity told the three New 12 members.

"And we didn't know that, sis?" Hoppity interrogated, winking.

"That's **half-sis.**"

"What difference does it make? Ewey and Fleece, note the age diff, are step-sisters. You're still family... in a small way." Bongo said.

"Your point?" Ewey said, crossing her arms and putting her head (with narrowed eyes) next to his.

"Never mind."

There was a pause.

Fleece sighed. "I take it that everyone has said their peace, right?"

"Good. Let's go home." Mystic said, wanting her rest after sustaining the barrier.

* * *

"I hit you with a few of my powerful attacks... so why aren't you feeling the slightest bit faint?" Sceptilius said to Derby, still fighting him after ten minutes in Barcelona.

Mac was out of energy after having his Final Shine countered by Sceptilius's most powerful move, Botanical Blight, a fierce, poisonous blast that saps anything in its path. The only way that the blast could be stopped is if someone fired an equally powerful blast.

Derby was panting. "I already told you, I have all the light I need." he said.

"That doesn't mean you can't be tired. Look at you, you're gasping for air." Sceptilius pointed out.

"I can still fight."

"But can you survive?"

They both flew in for each other.

"So?" Derby uttered.

"You should know... I can end this with just a glance." Sceptilius said, beginning to change his eye color for his Serum Gaze.

Before they clashed, a sudden pod of fire rushed skyward between them. Both Derby and Sceptilius stopped.

"What was that?" Sceptilius questioned.

"That... was COOL!" Derby exclaimed.

Sceptilius lowered his eyes. "You are such a kid..."

"And you!" shouted a voice from the sky. The reptile looked up to see the same fire pod, aimed to ram him. Before it made contact, the fire disappeared, revealing Sly, attacking with a Rasengan. Sceptilius fell to the ground fast, being hit.

Sceptilius winced, noticing the presence after recovering. "You!"

"No, **you **sir! You're pathetic." Sly replied, taking the "you-fest" as a joke. Then he wised up. "Deja vu, isn't it, Scaly?"

"Who is this Scaly?" Sceptilius said, using his deeper voice to prove his point.

Sly winced. "You sound like... Reptilius! You two monsters fused?" Sly exclaimed.

Sceptilius nodded. "I'm Sceptilius now, and you won't win."

"Hmm..." Sly uttered, before noticing who's been keeping the enemy company. "Derby? You managed to hold him off?"

Derby sweatdropped. "Yeah, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be."

"Okay then. Derby, take Mac back to the Home Base... I'll clean this guy's clock for ya. One more thing, Derby..."

Derby had one of Mac's wings around his neck. "Yeah?"

"This guy is a challenge. As you grow up, you're gonna run into a lot of them. Remember that."

"SHUT UP AND FIGHT!" shouted Sceptilius, trying to assault Sly.

After Derby left, the fox countered Sceptilius's efforts for a good couple of minutes. The fight was in the air above Barcelona now, but Sceptilius could not believe that Sly was able to defend himself so easily, despite the fact that Sceptilius is stronger now. Sly was only in his Kyuubi Mode with one demon tail replacing his real one. Still, Sceptilius believed that he could win without his Viral Mode... but Sly was about to prove him wrong.

"Counter this one! Serum Flare!" yelled Sceptilius, unleashing his powerful, Cero-like poison blast.

Sly floated right where he was. "Like I said before..." Sly began, while his second demon tail appeared, increasing his power level, "you're pathetic." Sly then released an intense force pulse that completely negated Sceptilius's blast and pushed him back as well.

Sceptilius recovered after three seconds, but sensed Sly's higher energy behind him. However, the pulsation greatly reduced his reaction time; he could not avoid the next attack.

_"Impossible..."_

"It's over." Sly held a Rasengan near the reptile's face, but he did not lead with it as usual; he simply held it in place. He had something better in mind. "**RASENOVA**!" he shouted, generating a ton of the Kyuubi's chakra into the Rasengan to cause a heavy chakra blast to heavily damage Sceptilius.

The formidable foe could not withstand this new attack, being sent flying out of the city. Sly had gained his retribution from what happened during the retrieval mission.

* * *

In the Amazon, a treeless area of a two-mile radius was made from the scars of battle between Sweet and Durango against Wrinkle, who was giving them a very hard time. Again, neither of the heroes could use their fire moves, restricting Sweet to his optical laser, retractable Wolverine claws, and web-action and Durango to only his light element skills.

Now, Sweet could barely get up, and Wrinkle had his sights on finishing him. Durango (Ultimate Mode) was beginning to run low as well, having a tough time protecting the leader of the Bean Titans.

"I'm about ready to end this. Say goodbye!" Wrinkle said, rushing in while preparing his Galick Gun to annihilate Durango and Sweet.

Durango tried to use Flash Step to get him and Sweet away, but could not, and only found himself taking a single step to the right. "Crap..."

"That's not gonna work for the moment. I casted Disable (Time Magic spell) before I started charging my energy. And look, I have enough now. Galick—!" Wrinkle stopped talking when he sensed three shines of offensive energy zooming for him. He cancelled his attack and used Sonido to avoid three **Energy Slashes**.

"Who just...?" Durango said, looking in the direction that the blades of energy came from. He looked back in front of him when he saw a thin, ripped fallow sheet from a long edged cape hanging down from an ally in front of him; an emblem of the zodiac was on the cape. Sweet and Wrinkle sensed the new presence as well.

"I'll let you know now... my father won't fall at your hands, Wrinkle." Mooch said with a serious face, holding his zanpakutō near his shoulder with both hands, with the blade aimed at Wrinkle.

Wrinkle grinned. "Well then, aren't you a little late on saying that? He fell about 20 times now." he said, being blunt.

"You know what I mean." Mooch turned to Durango.

"Mooch, you're stronger now... I'm impressed." said the horse.

Sweet managed to catch a view of his new and improved son. "My boy..." he uttered.

"Durango. You can stay and watch if you want... just make sure that he doesn't lay a finger on my dad." He turned back to Wrinkle. "Besides, this won't take any longer than 10 minutes."

Wrinkle Sonido'd again and tried to punch Mooch, but it was blocked by the zanpakutō, nonchalantly.

"Oh really? How do you plan on doing that then? I've only seen you fight like Scurry, using your arms, legs and tail to cut your opponent down to size." Wrinkle acclaimed.

Mooch pushed him into the air with the blade. "Don't get cocky. I have plenty of other moves... but who said I'd use them?"

"Huh?"

Mooch motioned his sword in a circle. "I can beat you by just using the power of my zanpakutō. Transcend... Zen no Kyoudoutai!" The blade turned into diamond, and Mooch grasped the black hilt with the "twelve-edged star" guard on it.

"What the...?" Wrinkle uttered, encountering the blade for the first time. It was clear to him then that it wasn't just for show.

Mooch jumped up to his altitude, using a special technique that allows him to stand on air: **Soul Drift**.

"Shadow Ball!" Wrinkle exclaimed, launching a dark purple orb at Mooch.

"Darkness, huh?" Mooch questioned.

"Clearly!"

"I see. Soshi... Shining Blade." spoke Mooch, utilizing the light form of his zanpakutō to easily cancel the Shadow Ball.

"Why you little—!"

Mooch used Flash Step to appear behind him. "Soshi, Empyreal Blade! Zap Cannon!" Mooch pointed the sword out, letting out a thin burst of lightning at Wrinkle, who then fell towards the ground.

He recovered, and had a bit of anger rising. "Grrrr..." he growled after thinking about his next move for two minutes. It seemed that whatever he tried to do, Mooch had a counter for it.

"I'm waiting on your third attack... choose wisely." Mooch said.

"Stop talking like that!"

"Oh, it annoys you? Sorry, but I can't help being leader of the New 12."

Wrinkle was shocked, using Sonido to get back down on the ground. "The... **New** 12? No way! That's impossible!"

"Live with it; it's true." Mooch told him.

Wrinkle had his full power ready now. "No! I'll end you! Galick Gun, full power!" he shouted, firing his signature move with great force that pushed many nearby forestry and the other two heroes away. He saw that he hit Mooch, seeing his blast go far into the atmosphere.

_"I don't sense him... no! Mooch!"_ Durango thought.

"Ha... hah! I got him." Wrinkle presumed. Before he could really celebrate his victory, however, he felt a sudden pain in his gut. Mooch had stuck his zanpakutō through the bulldog.

"Wrong again... that was your last mistake." Mooch told him, pulling his blade out of Wrinkle, causing him to fall down to the ground. Mooch began to walk off afterwards. Still, he could sense more of Wrinkle's evil intent, turning back to see him trudge towards the Amazon Base.

_"I need to... do what I came here to do! The three of you can rot!" _he thought to himself.

Mooch sighed. "I know that I can't kill you since you're immortal and all..." he began, exhibiting a bright white aura while generating a load of spiritual pressure to weigh Wrinkle down, "...but I will end this battle! I didn't want to have to use this, but I have no choice."

"What's he doing now?" Durango said, seeing the gibbon jump into the air.

Mooch dropped down to the ground again, leading with Zen no Kyoudoutai, to plunge it into the ground. "**Bankai**... Tomo Zen no Kyoudoutai." he quietly uttered.

Upon this command, an inescapable field of the zodiac (similar to that of the Eight Trigrams) appeared to the eyes of only Mooch and Wrinkle. Wrinkle could not move, already weighed down by Mooch's spiritual pressure. To start out, he felt as if he were stuck in a cramped cage of swords. This was one of those "real" illusions, as Wrinkle felt that if he moved around too much, his body would be cut by the nearly immovable blades that where nearly touching his skin. While he was in that crisis, Mooch took his sword (shining, with now **golden** diamond) and jumped high into the air. On the way up, Mooch lifted Zen no Kyoudoutai straight up and motioned it in a circle around his whole body again. This time, the ten elemental forms (fire, water, earth, air, ice, thunder, light, darkness, wood and metal) of the blade appeared behind him at certain points of the circle, each equally spaced from each other. After that, the ten swords span behind him rapidly, producing an increasingly powerful orb of devastating energy on the tip of the original zanpakutō. After a short moment of charging, Mooch readied his blade (with both hands) and powerfully swung straight down, unleashing the orb's heavy energy as a great static beam, targeting all foes within the zodiac field. This was called the Dance of the Zodiac.

Wrinkle was hit by this intense beam and was rendered motionless. Had he not been immortal, he would have died.

"Dude..." uttered Durango, wide-eyed by the strength of Mooch, who went to reunite with the other two leaders.

Mooch sheathed his sword. "Don't be so surprised. I only used the zanpakutō's moves. You haven't even seen the half of what I can do." he told them.

"What?" Durango exclaimed.

"That's my boy." Sweet uttered.

Mooch helped his father up. "We oughta be getting back home, dad."

"Yeah, let's." he replied. The three leaders moved inside the Amazon Base to warp back to the Home Base.

**/-/**

Wrinkle and his comrades had been put to shame at the hands of every New 12 member. A new order has risen.


	8. Victory at Last?

Chapter 8 — Victory at Last?

_Current time: 7:00 PM. At the Home Base._

All of the Bean Titans were gathered in celebration of their success in defending the world against an attack on it. Team Z had to get going back to their island because Danielle wanted to go home.

"New 12. I want to personally congratulate your efforts against the opposition." Sweet began to say. "I and the rest of the Bean Titans believe that you have only shown us a taste of what's to come in the future. Yes, Wrinkle, his syndicate, and even those horrible Acolytes have given us much trouble thus far, but if this is their limitation, we are certain that we will always come out on top."

The Bean Titans cheered joyously. It seemed that they felt virtually unstoppable, now that the New 12 have been conditioned to bring peace and secure righteousness.

"On with the party!" Mooch announced to the Titans, as the DJ duo, ForWard, carried on by rolling the music along.

* * *

Back at the Amazon, Wrinkle was still immobile on the grassy plain. He was unconscious of thought, until...

"Take your stand." spoke a directive male voice. It was revealed to be an unknown Acolyte, as he was wearing the white robes.

Wrinkle suddenly regained his consciousness and some of his strength. "I'm sorry for failing you, Master Slade." said Wrinkle, getting up. The masked mastermind is the leader of the Acolytes.

"Three of your comrades are reported as dead."

"What? That's impossible; we're immortal!"

The remaining 26 Acolytes appear. "Wrong, Wrinkle." Slade continued. "We Acolytes are in control of your lives and the only way you'd die is if we were to die."

"What do you mean?"

"There are, or should I say were, 30 members in your Syndicate, as well as 30 Acolytes. We've each been given an assignment: to hold your lives as precious as ours is. It is true that you are "immortal", but when our lives as Acolytes are threatened, so are your lifespans. This is all a part of the immortality deal between us. Since Shockmutt, Sylvester and Korgon have all been vanquished, three of your comrades have had no strings attached on their lives, meaning that their lives are their own now, except for that they are given until some time span to live."

This terrified Wrinkle. He knew then that no one in his squad (including he himself) would be safe, if the Acolytes were dead. "That's... unfair!"

"I know it, Wrinkle. I told you that there would be fatal circumstances, some of which we aren't capable of stopping ourselves. Nevertheless, failure is not an option, Wrinkle, you know that. However, I am willing to give you one last chance."

Wrinkle soon wised up. "Whatever it takes." he responded.

**I~~~**~~~I**

End of BTA Part 9 and Crisis Central Stage One. What will happen from here? Oh yes, there will be war... yes, there will be drama... and yes, there will be consequences.

Stay tuned.


End file.
